The Todd Residence, 2011
by Sorinapha Fumiyo Benatar
Summary: Quinn Davies' best friend, Johanna Todd, has perhaps the strangest family on the planet- ill-tempered father Sweeney, loving but cunning stepmother Nellie, and friendless but loveable adopted brother Toby. What happens when a certain Judge comes to town?
1. Hi Friend

**Preliminary Author's Note: If you don't like the current-day transposition, don't read it! The plot gets more exciting, so please bear with me.**

Quinn wandered as though lost through the classy downtown district of a small Southern city, looking for Johanna. It was a pretty Friday evening in the latter half of April, and the sun was setting rather prettily, dyeing the sky a vibrant reddish-pink.

Johanna was Quinn's best friend—beautiful and pale, with yellow hair. (Quinn insisted it was "blonde," but Johanna called it "yellow.") Her father had just remarried, and they had adopted a young orphan boy before moving from London to the Southeastern U.S.

Quinn herself looked weird next to Johanna. She was very thin, taller than other girls her age- and unusually big-breasted for her petite figure. Her hair was jet black, and so were most of her clothes. She wore heavy eyeliner and black lipstick. People compared her to Lisbeth Salander from the Millennium trilogy, and to some rock star she'd never heard of. Her name wasn't actually Quinn; she gave herself the nickname from a Bob Dylan song. (She was quite disappointed that nobody else her age listened to Dylan…) Essentially, she was a weird kid, and she wasn't quite sure why Johanna liked her. But she was glad she did.

She bobbed her head mildly, tapping her fingers on her leg as she walked, with a Dubstep mix blaring in her earphones. She looked up and saw Johanna, in a light, flowery blouse, and a pink peasant skirt, crossing the street a block ahead of her. She was holding the hand of a boy, maybe ten or eleven, with a cute face and short-cropped brown hair. Quinn smiled, and waved in Johanna's direction. Johanna saw her, and smiled, waving her petite hand in the air, calling her friend, and beginning to run to her.

"Quinn! Quinn, wait up!" Johanna called, with a soft and feminine variation of a British accent.

"I'm not going anywhere," Quinn assured her, putting out her arms to hug her friend, ready to catch her as she ran to her.

Johanna let go of the boy's hand and, just as Quinn predicted, jumped right into her arms.

"It's been _ages_, love! I've missed you!" She exclaimed, hugging Quinn around her neck.

"What? We hung out on Tuesday, and we've been sending each other messages on Facebook every twenty minutes!"

The little boy was looking up at the two girls with a worried expression on his face.

"Well, 'ave you gone mad, Jo?' he asked, in a pre-pubescent voice , even more British than hers.

"Toby!" Johanna reached out a tiny, feminine hand to hit him, and he dodged it effectively. "If you had got any friends, maybe you would understand!" She sighed. "Quinn, this is Toby. He's my little brother."

Toby hesitantly said hello, and ducked his head. Quinn decided to be very nice to him- the way she looked must be scary. _Children don't take very well to black lipstick_, she reminded herself.

"Nice to meet you, Toby," Quinn said pleasantly, smiling toward him.

"Come on, Quinn!" Johanna insisted, grabbing her hand. "Let's go to my house- my father wants to meet you!"

** For everyone who is concerned, the Dubstep song Quinn is listening to is Animal Rights (Dylan Sanders Re-Blast) by deadmau5 and Wolfgang Gartner. I also decided to name each chapter for a song, so since Quinn and Johanna are meeting up, I decided to name it for Hi Friend, by deadmau5 ft. MC Flipside. Yes, I adore electro. Click Story Alert! I promise this one will get finished in a timely manner! And please review!**


	2. I'm Not Alone

**Today's Song of the Chapter is brought to you by Calvin Harris! (With a nice remix by deadmau5.) Don't worry- coming up is Bob Dylan and some other stuff, too (that isn't electro). It's not like the chapter names have any significance. I just like the idea of naming chapters for (somewhat relevant) songs. It stretches my brain in pleasant ways. Review, please, when you finish!**

Chapter Two: I'm Not Alone

Nellie Lovett-Todd stood over her kitchen counter, rolling out a pie crust, and singing to herself.

_"…and Mrs. Mooney has a pie shop! Does her business, but I-"_

"Why? Must that disgusting, vile, filthy old-" Sweeney, her husband, stormed into the room, slamming his fist on the dining table, and seating himself in a wooden chair. He sighed angrily. "It's preposterous, Nellie."

"What's preposterous, dearie?" Nellie abandoned her rolling pin, and went to Sweeney, seating herself on his lap.

"They're here," he said softly, in a voice half choked with anger and half with despair.

Nellie began to look distressed. "Why, you can't mean…?"

"Judge Turpin and his Beadle. They're here. They want Johanna." He shook his head. "I won't let them take my girl away again."

"I know you won't, love." She kissed her husband's forehead soothingly. "We won't lose her to those bastards. She loves her father-she'd never go to him of her own will. Johanna loves her father…" she repeated comfortingly.

"And her stepmother," Sweeney added with a smile. "She loves you like you were her birth mother. She calls you 'Mum,"" he said. "I'm glad she's become attached to you; she was too young, you know, to remember Lucy…" He swallowed, still pained by the loss of his first wife.

"I'm just glad for Toby, m'dear. Having a nice older sister to love him's done him a world o' good." She hugged her husband around his neck. "Having such a nice loving father's been the real difference, though. He's proud of himself now-there's light in his eyes. Now, he may not have made many friends, but…we're new here. He'll find some well-behaved boys his age, find a sport he likes to play- he'll be fine. I worry more for _you_ these days than I do for him."

"What for?" Sweeney demanded.

"You still seem so cold, love. So distant." She seemed forlorn. "Y'know, it's like I've failed you, as a wife. I should be able to make you stop hurting…"

"Don't think like that, Nell." He frowned at her. " I was perfectly happy until that wretched Judge came back into the picture." He took her face lovingly into his hands, and kissed her.

As they embraced, Johanna, Toby, and Quinn entered the room. Quinn looked sorry for intruding, Toby was blushing furiously, and Johanna chuckled. She thought they were quite adorable together.

"Hey Mum, Dad. This is my friend Quinn that I told you about."

Nellie stood up, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, dear. Do sit down. Here-" She pulled a small pie from the oven and put it on a plate in front of Quinn. "Have a meat pie."


	3. The Mighty Quinn

**Today's Song of the Chapter is brought to you by Bob Dylan! Hurrah! And much love to ****singersk8rgirl426, this story's first fan! Please review after you read this chapter; I'd love to hear your opinion! I do appreciate you! **

Chapter Three: The Mighty Quinn (Quinn The Eskimo)

Quinn happily tucked into her pie, as Nellie bustled through the kitchen- working on her pie crusts, cleaning up the counters, helping Johanna with her homeschool work, and occasionally stopping to put her arms around Sweeney and give him a bit of love.

Toby eagerly helped his mom in every way he could; drying the dishes she washed, sweeping the floor, even giving his dad a hug when he saw Nellie do so.

The only time he acted outside his mother was when he stopped to silently bring her a glass of iced tea and two deviled eggs.

"He must like you," Johanna whispered across the table. "Deviled eggs are his favorite."

"Shut up, Jo!" Toby blushed furiously.

Johanna giggled, and resumed her work.

Mr. Todd finally spoke. "So, your name is Quinn."

"Yes, sir," she said at first, and then corrected herself. "Well, it's what people call me. It's not my real name."

"_The Mighty Quinn?_" Sweeney asked with a smile.

"Yes, sir," she agreed. "It's my favorite song- and my friends call me an Eskimo because I hate hot weather."

"You must not get on well here, then, during the summers?"

"No," Quinn admitted. "That's why I usually keep my hair short. During the summer, I get it even shorter than this," she indicated her chin-length hair, "and I walk around looking like a boy."

"You wouldn't look like a boy if your hair was short," Toby said matter-of-factly. "You're too pretty to look like a boy."

Quinn blushed, and Sweeney patted Toby's head affectionately. "What a little ladies' man," he chuckled.

"I'm not _flirting_ with her, Dad!" Toby insisted. "All's I said was that she's pretty!"

"Aw, Dad," Johanna intervened. "Give him a rest. He doesn't need you to embarrass him- he can do that himself."

Briefly, the whole family, even Toby, and their guest, laughed. But the atmosphere soon grew slightly more serious, as Sweeney cleared his throat. "Quinn, my dear, will you do me a favor?"

"Yes, sir?" Quinn began to worry. Even though she was well-behaved, no parents (except her foster mom) ever liked her.

"If you see two British men in town giving my girl strange looks, you tell me, alright?" His voice became strained.

"Y-Yes, sir…"

"You'll know them when you see them. One's blonde, fat, and has an aura about him like a pig, or a rather half-witted vermin, and the other…" Sweeney restrained his true thoughts. "Well, he's perfectly horrid, too. Worse than the other one—maybe because he's not as ugly outwardly. All he is on the inside, though, is a pious vulture of the law. When they see her, they'll get this lecherous look in their eyes, and-"

"Daddy?" Johanna interrupted timidly.

"Yes, my pet?"

"They aren't really…here, are they? They didn't follow us, did they?"

"I'm afraid they did, my little lamb." He was pale with anger, or perhaps, with fear.

"I'll…" Quinn began to speak. "I'll watch out for her, Mr. Todd. I promise. I won't let them get Johanna."

She meant it, with everything she stood for.

When her mom and dad died, she was too young to protect them.

But she was old enough now.

And she was not losing her best friend to some old creep.

**This last sentence pains me; I love Judge Turpin! **


End file.
